Awareness of Future Participation in Clinical Trials and Clinical Research Among Fourth-Year Medical Students at Hamamatsu University School of Medicine: Analysis Using Text Mining with a Large Language Model

Although studies in the 2000s examined clinical trial education and awareness surveys among medical and pharmaceutical students, current trends remain unclear. At our university, fourth-year students are educated about the significance of clinical trials and research in the clinical pharmacology and therapeutics lectures. Surveys are conducted post-lecture to gauge students' comprehension and intentions for future participation. This study analyzed medical students' understanding and future participation intentions in clinical trials and research. In 2022 and 2023, we analyzed responses from 207 out of 234 students using artificial intelligence-enabled text mining and quantitative analysis to reduce researcher bias. Students emphasized the importance of clinical trials for benefiting future patients, developing new treatments, and reciprocating past benefits. 68.1％ expressed interest in future participation, while 17.4％ were indifferent, and 14.5％ preferred not to participate. Reasons for students' decisions included contributing to patients, advancing medical/healthcare, personal interest, career planning, clinical inclinations, and suitability for researchers. Key reasons for participation included helping patients (65.2％), advancing healthcare (53.3％), and personal interest (34.0％). Correspondence analysis revealed links between career planning and neutrality, and between suitability for researchers and lack of interest. Students who were not interested or indifferent expressed concerns, such as a preference to work as a clinical physician, lack of vision regarding a career path as a clinical researcher, worries about the responsibility and low success rates of clinical trials, and delayed outcomes. Some students might not grasp that clinical research is an extension of medical practice before clinical clerkship, possibly influencing their choices against participation.